Product Description
In Japan this mushroom has earnt the name ‘king of mushrooms’ for its ability to grow to over 100 pounds! Growing your own mushroom affords you the chance to experiment with variables within the natural process, like temperature and humidity, and see whether you too can grow a giant mushroom.
Our Hen of the Woods comes on a wood carrier, replicating how it naturally grows on large trees. Cultivating mushrooms from logs can take a year to see the fruits of your labour flourish from your log grow. By growing mushrooms throughout the four seasons, you begin working towards a long-term form of food sustainability. A log grow will bring you harvests of mushrooms for up to eight years; if you want to explore a world of mushrooms beyond the supermarket shelf, then this is the spawn for you.
Reconnecting with natural growing processes, like log grows, offers a fresh and nutrient rich meal in any environment, without the need to go shopping. Log grows also remove the part packaging plays in so many of our meals. In offering you the highest quality, fresh living spawn, we hope you will be able to take away what urban growing could mean for our planet.
All our spawn is stored in specialist breathable Microsac bags. This ensures that the spawn is always at its freshest, from our fridges to yours.
For larger quantities, check out our wholesale collection.
Growing your own Hen of the Woods mushrooms is a straightforward process. We’ve got a further guide on how to inoculate logs on our website, and extensive customer aftercare is always available. Inoculation of a log is a process involving drilling into a log and hammering the spawn dowel into the hole, before sealing with wax.
Log Types: Logs of healthy freshly cut (2 weeks – 10 weeks) hardwoods are most suitable such as Oak. Avoid coniferous wood types.
Log size: Up to 1.25m long and 10-20cm diameter is ideal (the larger the log the longer to colonisation and the greater the production).
How to inoculate: Use roughly 40-50 plugs per 50cm length (you can speed up colonisation by increasing the density). Use an 8mm drill bit to a depth of 5-6cm and spacing of 10-15cm between holes. Seal with a natural food grade wax to help retain moisture and keep out competing organisms.
When to inoculate: Logs can be plugged anytime although not in frosty conditions is best. Best time to cut is when trees are dormant (winter and early spring).
Fruiting Season: Late summer to early autumn
Cultivation Info
| Binomial nomenclature | Grifola frondosa | |
| Old nomenclature | None | |
| Inoculation rate | mix with ± 1% spawn | |
| Natural substrate | composition: | 80% hardwood, mixed fine + coarse 10% cereals 10% bran |
| Incubation | room temperature: | 23 °C |
| substrate temperature: | 25 °C | |
| duration: | Ca. 18 days | |
| Primordia induction | (night time)* temperature: | 18-24 °C |
| relative humidity | 90- 95 % | |
| Fruiting conditions | room temperature: | 12-18 °C |
| relative humidity: | 90-95% | |
| CO2-concentration: | 2000-5000 ppm | |
| light: | 200 lux | |
| Flushes | number: | 2 |
| interval: | 20-30 days | |
| between flushes: | ||
| Total production cycle | ||
| Average yield | Approx. 150 g saleable mushrooms per kg fresh substrate† | |
*Primordia are induced by a shock. For most mushroom species, this is done with a thermal shock, which is defined by the minimum temperature during the day-night cycle.
†Mushroom weight immediately after harvesting, and wetted substrate weight prior to inoculation.
Important remark: the cultivation guidelines in our technical data sheets are a compilation of the data given to us by experienced cultivators. Individual differences in the cultivation conditions can seriously affect the results.
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